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Your cat talks fluent Motherese | Summer Split

This week, a Dutch right-wing politician gave an interview, on Dutch tv. Which is rare, because he doesn’t give interviews. But it was about his cats.
He was interviewed by a journalist who is supposedly Holland’s Queen Bee of Ice. She too talked about her cats.
The biggest difference between the two of them, was that her cats were allowed to sleep with her, and his were not allowed in the bedroom.
But they clearly bonded in their affection for their felines, and there were no irreconcilable differences, the way there would have been if they would have discussed politics.

The cutest contribution was made by an expert, who said that people talk Motherese to their pets; a simplified language as if talking to an infant. But that the cats also speaks Motherese to you!
Fully aware that you don’t understand proper “Cats”, the cat dumbs it down for you, and produces kitten-like meows. Cats don’t meow to each other. They don’t have to, since other cats understand them perfectly.

The show was entirely around cats, and basically in the comments on Twitter there were two camps; those who thought the host/ journalist had lost all credibility.
And those who were happy we could all (well, almost all) agree that a love for cats surpasses political differences. That at least we can all (well, almost all) agree that cats are cute.
Thank God for cats.

The cat story illustrates something important;
That if someone shares the same opinion, or loves the same thing, you will feel a connection.
But as soon as he or she loves something else that you don’t, or behaves in a way that you wouldn’t, you will most likely feel betrayed. You will think that his or her newfound love or opinion means that your earlier connection was fake. And perhaps even that he or she, should adopt YOUR view on proper journalism, on the spending of public money on state television, or on how many minutes a late night talk show is allowed to be about cats to begin with, before you even consider giving them a second chance.

But that’s not how humans work, or live, or are.
We all have lovable parts to our personality that will easily connect with others.
We have militant parts that will team up with others.
We have opinionated parts that will revolt against others.
And we, you, I, consist out of all of them.
Expecting someone you consider to be “on your team” to always be agreeable, to only hold views you understand, and to share the same likes and dislikes as you, is setting yourself up for major disappointments.
As is the opposite; to demonize someone who is different than you.
You can choose to not share your life with someone who you feel no connection with, but to demonize and spend your day sneering at the world, identifying foes and flaws, must be one of the most gloomy ways to spend your precious time here on this earth.

It’s not just about giving all your energy, attention to something you don’t want. It’s also something else; you are fixating yourself around one opinion. On one topic. You are burying yourself in ONE aspect of your personality. And every other part of you will weaken.
If you focus on hate, you can’t love.
If you focus on injustice, you can’t see all the ways life provides for you.
If you focus on how much you hate dogs (or right wing politicians), you can’t feel how much you love cats.

You are made out of so many different parts and opinions. Some of them will be popular with others, others will not. Which is cool. The only pitfall is that you shouldn’t discriminate between them when it comes to judging “yourself”.
All parts are equally important, to you.
They may not be of value to others, but that shouldn’t make any difference to you.
Just like talking to your cat is something you do to please yourself, and not because you believe it’s his preferred way of communicating.

Same way I have written in English for years. And since 2015 I ve made yoga videos in English. And this didn’t have anything to do with me wanting to address an international market;
it was because I needed that.
English uses a different part of my brain. I think different thoughts. I am a different person. And I like being that second person. I live in the Netherlands, so the part of my personality that is wired in Dutch gets enough practice already.
But what has been difficult is to separate “where to put it”. Where to put the English and Dutch content (written or in video) within my yoga business, within my writing, and within my social media accounts, so that it doesn’t bother people. And even adds value.

Not only, did I want to separate English and Dutch, but also writing and yoga. It was holding me back that the audience of one was being bothered with the other. There was only one way to solve this; a clean cut. A big one.

So from now on, everything regarding yoga will be 100% Dutch;
– my YouTube channel will be completely Dutch
new Dutch yoga video every day. (subscribe)
– M Yoga Twitter will be Dutch (follow)
– M Yoga Facebook has been Dutch for over a year (like)

Yesterday I created my final video journal from home, shot in black and white.
From now on I will only shoot them outside or on location, in colour.
At the end of my final home video cat Max came and talked to me in Motherese.
And in fluent Motherese I talked back and covered him with kisses.

I didn’t cut it out, and left it in. It’s by far the best final ten seconds of any video I ever shot.
Regardless of what your native tongue is.

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